On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:29:35 -0800, sarosh.shirazi wrote:

[snip]
> To Joseph: It's part of the requirement that such characters would come
> up...so i'll have to bear the heck :) 

Then as Joseph said, your file is not an XML file, so you must use
non-XML software to process it.

> Is there any way other than ascii preprocessing or preparsing. 

Not as far as I am aware. 

> I know
> the tags which shall have these chars. Can i somehow have these
> particular tags and their data simply ignored in XML?

No, because (as already explained) your file is not an XML file.
You cannot use XML software and methods on non-XML files in this
way (apart from the method Martin suggested).

If you can fix it by exchanging the invalid characters on a 1:1 basis, 
then just use a simple inline filter like tr, which is extremely fast.

Alternatively, change all the invalid characters to some form of markup, 
eg <junk char="0"/> so that they can be transformed back again after 
processing. A stream editor like sed is very fast for this kind of thing.

And tell your data source that their data will process more easily if 
they generate well-formed XML. A "requirement" like the one you mention 
is simply evidence of bad planning on their part.

///Peter
-- 
XML FAQ: http://xml.silmaril.ie/